第十三节 动词的名词化
我们经常读到这样的句子：
1 . College life makes me feel excited. 大学生活使我感到兴奋。
2. If you compare two ways of life carefully, you will find the former is superior to the
latter.
如果你仔细比较这两种生活方式，你将会发现前者比后者优越。
3 The life-style has become accepted and welcome by more and more young people.
这种生活方式已被越来越多的年轻人接受，并受到欢迎。
4 Our parents always expect us to make progress in school and if we fail to do so,
they will ask why.
我们的父母总是期盼我们在学校有进步，如果我没有做到，他们就会问为什么。
上面几个句子虽没有语法错误，但完全是按中文组句习惯写的，如果按照英文
习惯，上面的例句可以修改如下：
（1）College life filled me with excitement.
（2）Careful comparison of two ways of life will show the superiority of the former
over the latter.
（3）The life style has found its growing popularity and acceptance among young
people.
（4）Our parents always expect progress of us in school and question its absence.
(以上材料来自蔡基刚的《英汉写作对比研究》)
英语中现在有一种明显的倾向，人们往往用名词而不用动词来表达谓语部分的内容。
当然英语文章中大量抽象名词的使用和民族的文化习惯和思维习惯也有一定的关系。
名词的使用不仅仅是减少了动词，而更重要的是使英语句子简洁紧凑，同时也避免了
因使用动词而不得不把人牵扯进来，从而使句子更加含蓄、间接、抽象。
这也解释了为什么刚学翻译的同学无法把翻译技巧用到实践中，因为平时思考不足，
对词汇的用法积累不够。翻译练习，应首先从基本的词汇开始，慢慢地积累，最后
才能做到翻译时信手拈来。在后面讲解英汉句子成分转换时，将频繁用到动词名物化，
因此这里将重点讲解动词名物化。
13. 1“思考，考虑”的名词化
在英语中，可以把“思考、考虑”之类的动词转化为名词形式。
1. The sheriff dismissed the idea from his mind. 警长不再这样认为。
2. She did not give the matter even a passing thought. 她对这个问题想都不愿意想。
3.What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a
motor car?
只要英国人都能负担得起拥有一辆汽车，那么还有什么人会去关心政治呢？
4. He took no thought of that. 他没有思考这件事。
5. Few children can eat when excited with the thoughts of a journey.
想到旅行，孩子们都很兴奋地吃不下饭。
6. Eppie's heart was swelling at the sense that her father was in distress.
想到悲伤的父亲，艾比的内心翻江倒海。
7. The slightest mention of the decade brings nostalgic recollections （ 回 忆 ） to
the middle-aged and curious questionings by the young; memories of the deliciously
illicit thrill of the first visit to a speakeasy,(酒店) of the brave denunciation of Puritan
morality, and of the fashionable experimentations in amour in the parked sedan on a
country road.
只要有之言片语提到那个时期，就会勾起中年人怀旧的回忆和青年人好奇的提问。
中年人回忆起第一次光顾非法酒店时的那种既高兴又不安的违法犯罪的刺激感，
回忆起对清教徒式的道德规范的勇猛的抨击，回忆起停在乡间小路上的汽车里颠鸾
倒凤的时髦爱情实验方式。
8. Tom looked at me as though he had some consciousness that I had introduced all
this confusion into his household.
汤姆看着我，好像他家里的这些麻烦都是我造成的。
9. She perceived in his words the realization of her own apprehensive foreboding in
former times.
从他的话中，她意识到以前担心的事还是发生了。
10. She had an inclination that the people behind her were becoming impatient.
她意识到她身后的人正变得不耐烦。
11. His father therefore would take a mild view of what he saw as symptoms of grief
and natural childish resentment.
他爸爸不经意地认为他所看到的只是孩子出于本能的怨恨和悲伤的表现。
12. She has visions of starring in a movie that requires her to become an expert in
something, like marathon running or horseback riding.
她期待自己能主演一部要她成为某方面——像马拉松跑或者骑马——高手的电影。
13. Still, Foster’s in no mind to stack projects into the next decade.
不过福斯特无意对以后 10 年做过多规划。
14. Mick Jagger(born 1943) is nobody’s idea of a dependant.
没人认为 Mick Jagger 是一个需要帮助的人。（依赖他人生活者）
15 . My first thought was…第一个想法…，（我首先想到的是…）
词 汇 积 累
1. common n 普通人；共同点
a. lord and commons. 君主与普通人。
b. They have so much in common with each other. 他们彼此有许多共同点。
2. communication n 沟通；交流
a. communication skills. 交流技巧。
b. communication ability. 交际能力。
3. community n 社区；团体
a. business community. 商界。
b. legal community. 法律界人士。
c. international community. 国际社会。
d. rural community. 村落。
e. Shia community. 什叶派。
f. foreign community. 外侨。
g. Indigenous community. 土著居民。
h. EEC. 欧共体。
i. senior-living communities. 老年生活社区。
j. the academic community. 学术界。
4. companion n 同伴；同行者
a. traveling companion. 旅伴。
b. companion works. 姊妹篇。
5. company n 人群；一群客人a. The company will be here before we know where we
are.
他们有可能在我们忙得不可开交的时候到了。
b. a company car. 公司配车。
